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Sonoco Products Co key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Sonoco Products Co had return on equity of 34.1%, an operating margin of 13.5%, debt equal to 119.7% of equity and a current ratio of 1.05. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Fiscal year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMSept 2026
Gross margin18.0%18.1%16.4%17.2%17.7%17.7%18.3%19.3%18.5%18.8%19.2%19.6%18.6%20.9%22.1%21.5%20.9%20.2%
Operating margin6.8%8.0%7.0%7.0%7.2%7.4%7.5%10.3%7.9%7.9%8.5%6.7%8.5%9.6%10.8%6.2%13.5%2.7%
Net margin4.1%4.8%4.7%4.0%4.3%4.4%4.9%5.9%3.4%5.7%5.3%3.9%−1.5%8.0%8.7%3.1%13.3%−3.1%
Free-cash-flow margin7.8%5.4%1.6%3.9%7.5%4.7%5.1%4.3%3.1%7.2%4.2%9.6%0.7%3.1%9.6%8.3%4.6%4.8%
Return on equity11.1%14.1%15.0%13.5%13.2%14.2%16.7%18.8%10.8%18.1%16.4%11.2%−4.6%23.9%21.2%7.0%34.1%−7.1%
Return on assets4.9%6.3%6.0%4.8%5.1%5.5%6.1%7.2%4.1%6.9%6.0%4.0%−1.7%7.7%6.7%1.7%8.5%−2.1%
Asset turnover1.211.331.271.201.191.261.241.231.221.211.131.031.110.970.760.540.640.69
Current ratio1.241.481.551.441.561.511.421.681.561.401.081.211.091.351.760.791.051.18
Debt to equity42.5%41.6%91.1%92.2%58.0%84.2%75.0%68.7%94.0%78.7%93.3%89.5%87.7%156.0%125.3%309.9%119.7%153.2%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)6.2x9.0x7.7x5.3x5.8x6.9x6.7x9.3x7.2x6.9x7.0x4.8x7.6x5.5x4.3x1.9x4.4x1.1x
Effective tax rate31.2%25.3%27.6%35.5%32.0%33.4%26.8%37.3%46.6%19.8%24.5%20.7%—20.8%24.5%8.7%24.0%—
R&D as % of revenue0.4%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.5%0.4%0.5%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.3%—
SG&A as % of revenue10.5%9.6%8.6%9.5%10.0%9.9%9.8%10.3%9.8%10.2%9.6%9.9%9.8%10.4%11.8%13.6%11.5%10.9%
Capital spending as % of revenue2.8%3.4%3.8%4.4%3.5%3.4%3.8%3.8%3.6%3.5%3.6%3.6%4.5%5.6%6.7%7.4%4.6%3.8%
Free cash flow ÷ net income189.4%114.0%33.1%96.8%174.2%106.6%104.2%74.0%90.9%126.7%78.8%246.5%—38.7%109.4%268.7%34.5%—
Dividends ÷ net income71.2%55.6%52.9%61.3%59.5%57.0%55.2%51.1%87.3%51.5%58.3%83.2%—40.1%41.6%124.1%20.7%—
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow38.0%59.5%228.6%65.6%41.6%89.9%56.0%119.4%100.1%44.3%78.2%35.4%930.1%106.3%40.0%48.3%63.3%62.4%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

1 of 7 checks passed · September 27, 2026
What it owns · $10.1bn
Short-term assets $2.8bnLonger-term assets $7.3bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $10.1bn
Short-term liabilities $2.4bnLonger-term liabilities $4.9bnShareholders' equity $2.8bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $2.8bn of assets due within a year against $2.4bn of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $2.8bn short-term assets against $4.9bn of longer-dated liabilities.
  • More cash than debt $183m of cash against $4.3bn of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 153% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 143% to 153% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $630m of operating cash flow against $4.3bn of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $202m against $188m of interest.

From Sonoco Products Co's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

55 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Sonoco Products's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 12 / 20

    Cash operating profit has been a median 9.6% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 8 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 19.7%, moving by 1.3 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 6 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 8.2%; its worst year was 2.7%.

  • Cash conversion 12 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 4.5% of revenue.

  • Discipline 17 / 20

    The diluted share count fell 0.9% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.3% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Sonoco Products Co's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Sonoco Products Co.